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Chapchar Kut
CHAPCHAR KUT : The Mizo’s festival of joy
The white
flag flies high in the air, fluttering in the envigorating wind
under the cloudless sky of spring. The sound of the beatings of
the gongs reverberated on the surrounding hills. The crowd,
young and old, from all walks of lives, were pouring in in
thousands. It is show time at the Assam Rifles parade ground
right in the heart of Aizawl. The day is the second friday of
March, 2005 on which the most joyful festival of the Mizos -
Chapchar Kut - is celebrated every year. Standing in the ground
were hundreds of Mizo damsels and energetic young-men dressed in
their colourful attires all poised to perform the colourful
Cheraw dance, thus heralding the start of the festival for the
day.
Chapchar Kut literally means - a festival held during the period
when the bamboos and trees that have been cut down are being
awaited to dry to be burnt for jhumming. During this brief
layoff period of jhumming, the Mizo ancestors could have all the
time for themselves. They spend their leisure hunting games,
fishing, et al. The Chapchar Kut festival evolved sometime
between 1450 -1600 A.D. when the Mizo forefathers inhabit
Lentlang. In the olden days, the festival could last for days
and in the run up to the grand finale, there are well laid down
steps to be followed. Everyone in the village have a role to
play; of course, the youths were most involved in every stage of
the preparation and in the festival itself. Designed to be a
festival of joy, all disputes and differences that may be there
in the community should be settled, even altercation between
married couples was a taboo during the celebration of the
festival. Abundant supply of meat must be there and home brewed
liqour must be over-flowing to keep their spirit high. They
danced away all all their cares and made merry all night long.
That sums up how the Mizos celebrate Chapchar Kut in the olden
days when they were heathens.
The modern version of Chapchar Kut have done away with liqour,
which was once a part and parcel of the festival. Even so, the
present generation is not in any way lacking in keeping the
spirit of the festival fever pitch high. In fact, Mizoram has
been a dry state for years; the Young Mizo Association (YMA),
the largest NGO in the state, is combating drug and alcohol on a
war footing starting this year and they are also very much a
major player in organising Chapchar Kut. But who says one needs
a bottle of rum to be merry ! The younger generation of the
Mizos have invented for themselves enthralling music..music...and
more music to drowned themselves in. This was evident, as it
always is wherever a dozen or so Mizo youths congregate, in the
Chapchar Kut festival. The crowd went berserk when the choicest
of the Mizo pop divas performed Mizo songs. Believe me, right
from toddlers to policemen, who were supposed to keep watch,
were practically dancing.
The chief minister Zoramthanga, in his very brief inaugural
speech, says : “ Chapchar Kut has come to be a very important
medium through which we could express to the world outside that
the Mizos all over the world remain united and that it shall
remain so. No matter where in the world we live or to which
ethnic tribes of the Mizos we belong to, we should never allow
economic, cultural and religious differences do us apart ”.
True, Chapchar Kut is a symbol that shall remain a living prove
that blood is indeeds thicker than water. Mizo delegates from
Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura came to witness the festival this
year and the people warmly welcome them.
When it comes to the time for Chai, the last and the most
hilarious dance, all the people joined in. Standing in circles
and swaying from side to side to the slow moving tune of Mizo
songs of yesteryears, it was free for all. A few of the western
tourists and other domestic tourists ventured out to join the
party. It was apparent that there was no cultural, religious or
nationality barrier amongst that waves of sea of people dancing.
But then, where else in India, if not in the world, would you
chance upon such likeable and hospitable people, other than in
Mizoram. Justifiably, the most peaceful state in the country. Be
there on the second friday of March next year to witness
Chapchar Kut.
see picture of Chapchar Kut 2005
THE ORIGIN OF THE CHAPCHAR KUT
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